A month & half to bum in Africa

You might need to skip Zanzibar; 17 days - 8 days Kili = 11 days. Count 4-5 days in Uganda, and you have no time for beach. You might want to skip Tanzania all together; Serengeti is the same yet will be MUCH cheaper and MUCH less touristy as after the Kenya riots, all rich Americans went to Tanzania for their multi1000 dollar safari, makeing it even more expensive and touristy then Tanzania already is.

-Advice on tour operators?
Avoid the touts on this board.

-What else should I do?
Rafting!!!!!!!!!!! (in Jinja, Uganda)

-Should I make arrangements now or wait until I get on the ground?
Now only for gorillas.

-Any tour companies operating auf Deutsch?
?

-To do an all inclusive overland tour or not?
If you like independent, you wont like the overlanders. No need for overlanders for safari, for gorillas, for rafting. Can easily take a bus Nairobi-Uganda; on the way passing Jinja. Stay in Adrift camp.

-Any special security considerations?
Nope. Safe.

Thanks for the advice.

So is Africa somewhere I can show up with my stuff and work on the details of what I want to do once I'm on the ground?

From what I'm reading, it seems that it's also a place I can find my way around transportation-wise over long distances pretty easily. Is this correct?

I also have a few follow ups:

You might need to skip Zanzibar; 17 days - 8 days Kili = 11 days. Count 4-5 days in Uganda, and you have no time for beach. You might want to skip Tanzania all together; Serengeti is the same yet will be MUCH cheaper and MUCH less touristy as after the Kenya riots, all rich Americans went to Tanzania for their multi1000 dollar safari, makeing it even more expensive and touristy then Tanzania already is.
Do you mean avoid the Serengeti in Tanzania or go there? If avoiding it, is there somewhere better to go check out?

-Any tour companies operating auf Deutsch?
?
Any tours in German?

Can easily take a bus Nairobi-Uganda; on the way passing Jinja. Stay in Adrift camp
Just get off the bus and I'll be able to find it, or is this something to start arraigning before hand?

Thanks again, I really appreciate ya'll's help!

oops sorry you got 47 days....hell yeah, go to zanzibar then as well.

Generally yes you can just show up and sort things out. Unless you happen to turn up in the middle of a festival time or local holiday or something, no probs. For example...

...We stumbled off a bus in Jinja in the middle of the night and found our way to the Nile River Explorers place. They have a hostel in Jinja town and a base on the river for the rafting. I can also highly recommend their place and their rafting so it sounds like either of them will do!

...We also found transport to and accommodation in Zanzibar (and diving course etc) just by turning up at the docks and heading over there.

...We turned up in Arusha and took a day to shop around for a safari, then booked for the next day.

We did our whole trip through East Africa like that, no probs.

Buses in that part of the world are easy, just be patient because it is slow. If you're doing a long bus journey and want one of the slightly nicer long distance buses, it helps to go to the bus office / bus station and book a day or two before.

Other recommendations:
- Lake Bunyoni in Uganda as a chill out place, just laze around or go hiking or kayaking. Byoona Amagara is a cool place to stay.
- And we loved the Mt Elgon trek (also Uganda) - I can't compare it to Kili because I haven't done Kili, but it was beautiful and there were only about 5 other tourists in that National Park the whole time we were up there. Sipi Falls (on one side of Mt Elgon) is a fantastic place, beautiful countryside, great to recover after the hike, or just for a visit anyway.

If you want to get an idea of some of these palces, our blog for that area starts here:

Jinja

if you scroll through "next entry" you'll get Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. If you go backwards you'll get Kenya.

Don't know about German operators I'm afraid.

It's easy travelling, you'll have a fab time.

For the most part, just showing up and making arrangements on the spot works fine in Africa. The piece you might need to plan more than a day or two in advance is seeing the mountain gorillas. Possibilities are limited, and the demand (and expense) is high. Sorry I don't know more specifics: I did this in 1995 when I could just show up at the Zaire border.

There is no current need to "slip" over the Burundi border, but I'd be cautious about DRC, especially as an Africa novice. The rules are somewhat different from what you may be used to. When you get to that area, keep your ear to the ground for current information. Note also that speaking even a bit of French will be very useful in Burundi, Rwanda or DRC.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Edited by markharf to add: If you do go to Burundi, consider going to Gombe Stream from Bujumbura, continuing down the lake to Kigoma, then onwards by train to Dar. Again, my information about what is possible and what works is somewhat dated, but this would make a good trip and would take you just a bit outside the normal tourist trail.

Have you considered hiring a cruiser? You haven't got enough time to buy one but renting one would really help maximise your time and flexibility.

PS: You'll find plenty of German focused Tour Ops in and around Tanga in TZ.

A cruiser? Hmmm...... What all is involved in that? I'm going solo on this trip and am trying to keep expenses to a minimum but am always interested in new things.

I would be great if I could find a group that works in German, since it's hard to actually use it here in the states.

My truck (smaller and more suitable for 1 person) is in Zimbabwe so it's not available, however I know of a 7 seater Cruiser based in Nairobi that is offered on very reasonable rates. Click on the Africa 4x4 Cafe link in my signature and follow the "4x4 for hire" link. You'll deal direct with the owner.